NHL Hockey Trivia: Chicago Blackhawks Retired Numbers

The Chicago Blackhawks have been a fixture in the National Hockey League since the 1926-27 season. Many great hockey players have worn the red, black and white of the Blackhawks. Only a select group of these hockey legends have had their numbers taken out of circulation by the team and raised to the rafters for eternity.

Test and expand your hockey trivia knowledge of the Chicago Blackhawks retired numbers with these four hockey trivia questions.

Q. Two goaltenders have had their numbers retired by the Chicago Blackhawks. What goalie is the number 35 retired for?

A. Tony Esposito played for Chicago from 1969-70 until 1983-84. With exception of 13 games played with the Montreal Canadiens in 1968-69, Esposito played his whole career in Chicago. Tony finished his career with 76 shutouts and a 2.92 goals against average in 886 regular season games. Esposito was enshrined in the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1988, four years after his brother Phil Esposito.

The other number retired by Chicago for a goaltender is number 1 in honour of Glenn Hall. Glenn played for Chicago from 1957-58 to 1966-67. He came to the Blackhawks from the Detroit Red Wing and ended his career with the St. Louis Blues. The three time Vezina Trophy winner was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1975.

Both Tony Esposito and Glenn Hall had their numbers retired by the Blackhawks on the same day, November 20, 1988.

Q. What number is retired by the Chicago Blackhawks for two different players?

A. The number 3 is retired in honour of two defensemen, Pierre Pilote and Keith Magnuson. Both were long time blue liners in Chicago. Pilote was a three time winner of the Norris Memorial Trophy as the league’s top defenseman.

Pilote played for Chicago from 1955-56 to 1967-68, spending one last year in the NHL with the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1968-69. Magnuson played his entire NHL career with Chicago from 1969-70 to 1979-80. Both Pilote and Magnuson had their number retired by the Blackhawks on the same night, November 12, 2008. For Magnuson, it was posthumously, having died in 2003.

Q. The number 21 is retired by the Chicago Blackhawks in honour of what long-time great?

A. Stan Mikita holds the all-time Blackhawks career records for points and assists. He is the only NHL player to win the Art Ross Trophy, Hart Memorial Trophy and the Lady Byng Trophy in the same year. He accomplished this in two consecutive seasons during the 1960’s.

Mikita played his entire NHL career with Chicago from 1958-59 to 1979-80. His number was retired on October 19, 1980 and he entered the Hockey Hall of Fame three years later in 1983.

Q. The Blackhawks retired number 9 for what Hockey Hall of Fame player?

A. Easy question. Bobby Hull wore number 9 for the Blackhawks from 1957 to 1972 before becoming the face of the fledgling World Hockey Association. In 1983, Bobby entered the HHOF along with long time line mate Stan Mikita. On December 18, 1983, his number was retired by Chicago.

 

NHL's Norris Trophy: A History Of Hoarding

The James Norris Memorial Trophy has been awarded each National Hockey League season since 1953-54, honouring the league’s best defenseman. It’s a historical fact that this award is for a very privileged few. By the end of the 2010-11 season, the Norris Trophy had been given out 55 times. Just four players account for 27 of the 55 winners which equates to slightly more than 49%. Since, 2010-11, the award has been spread out to two first time winners.

Bobby Orr

The group of four is headed by Boston Bruins legend Bobby Orr. Orr won the Norris Trophy in eight straight seasons from 1967-68 to 1974-75. Of course, this is just a portion of the hardware in Orr’s trophy case. During that eight year run, he won the Art Ross Trophy as league scoring leader twice (the only defenseman to win the award). He was also awarded the Hart Memorial Trophy as the NHL’s most valuable player for three consecutive years from 1969-70 to 1971-72. If Orr’s NHL career didn’t come to a premature end due to knee injuries, there’s no knowing how many more times he would have won the Norris.

Doug Harvey

Doug Harvey won the Norris Trophy seven times, one less than Bobby Orr. After Red Kelly won the inaugural Norris Trophy in 1953-54 as a member of the Detroit Red Wings, Doug Harvey took over. He won four in a row from 1954-55 to 1957-58 as a Montreal Canadien. In 1958-59, Canadiens teammate, Tom Johnson, won the award. From 1959-60 to 1961-62, Harvey won another three in a row, two as a member of the Habs and his final one as a member of the New York Rangers.

Niklas Lidstrom

Tied with Doug Harvey is Niklas Lidstrom. The man who took over the leadership role with the Detroit Red Wings when Steve Yzerman retired won the Norris three years in a row from 2000-01 to 2002-03 and then again from 2005-06 to 2007-08. Lidstrom won one last Norris Trophy in 2010-11. Niklas retired after the 2011-12 season and is destined for the Hockey Hall of Fame. His number 5 will be retired by the Red Wings in March, 2014.

Raymond Bourque

Rounding out the group with his name engraved on the Norris Trophy five times is another Boston Bruins great, Raymond Bourque. Despite playing 22 seasons in the NHL, Bourque’s five Norris Trophy victories came over just an eight year span from 1986-87 to 1993-94. Bourque is the NHL’s all-time leader among defensemen in career goals and points. He is the NHL’s all-time leader in shots on goal with nearly one thousand more than the next on the list.

3 Time Winners

Add in four three-time winners and it really becomes apparent that the Norris Trophy is for a very select few of the most elite defensemen to play the game. Pierre Pilote of the Chicago Blackhawks won three times in the mid 1960’s. Denis Potvin won his three with the New York Islanders during their dynasty years of the early 1980’s. When Ray Bourque wasn’t winning it in the 1980’s and 1990’s, Paul Coffey and Chris Chelios were. Coffey did it with the Edmonton Oilers and Detroit Red Wings. Chelios did it with the Montreal Canadiens and Chicago Blackhawks. Of course, with the exception of Lidstrom, every player named in this article is now enshrined in the Hockey Hall of Fame. As mentioned, as soon as Lidstrom is eligible, it would be the crime of the century if he is not inducted immediately.

1966-67 Chicago Blackhawks: The One That Got Away

1966-67 is typically remembered by NHL fans as the last season of the ‘Original Six’ era, the first year of Bobby Orr and the last time the Toronto Maple Leafs would win the Stanley Cup. Chicago Blackhawks fans remember that year as a seemingly guaranteed Stanley Cup victory gone horribly wrong.

Chicago dominated the 1966-67 NHL regular season, winning 41 of 70 games and finishing seventeen points above the next competitor. The Black Hawks score 264 goals, 42 more than the Detroit Red Wings and allowed just 170, 18 less than the Montreal Canadiens.

Five of the top point-getters in the NHL that season wore a Chicago Black Hawks uniform. Stan Mikita and Bobby Hull went one-two with Mikita tying Hull’s single season record with 97 points. Ken Wharram finished fourth, Phil Esposito finished seventh and Doug Mohns came in ninth.

The well-rounded team also took the Vezina Trophy on the backs of the goaltending duo of Glenn Hall and Denis DeJordy. Three time Norris Trophy winner, Pierre Pilote, was runner-up to Harry Howell of the New York Rangers for the award for the top defenseman.

The Black Hawks took home the hardware in 1966-67. Of course, they won the Prince of Wales Trophy as the best team in the regular season. It was the first time in team history that the Hawks finished first in the NHL. Stan Mikita won the triple crown, taking home the Art Ross Trophy, Hart Memorial Trophy and Lady Byng Trophy.

Four of the six players on the First All-Star Team were from Chicago. Pierre Pilote was on defense, Stan Mikita was at centre, Ken Wharram was on right wing and Bobby Hull was on the left side. Glenn Hall was the Second Team All-Star goaltender.

Yet, in spite of all this success, the Black Hawks bowed out in the opening round of the playoffs to the Toronto Maple Leafs in six games. What should have been Chicago’s fourth Stanley Cup victory, and first since 1961, instead became a Cup celebration for the third seed Toronto Maple Leafs. The Leafs beat the Montreal Canadiens in the Stanley Cup finals in six games after Montreal took out the New York Rangers in four games in the opening round.

Chicago would make it to the Stanley Cup finals three more times, only to lose. It wasn’t until 2010 before the Blackhawks won their next Cup, their first since 1961. The Maple Leafs, after stealing the Cup from Chicago in 1967, have yet to make another appearance in the finals.